At the beginning of wedding planning everything is all fun, games, and excitement. Looking at your ring gives you chills, bridal magazines cannot come to your door fast enough, and all the potential ideas for your wedding are just too much fun to actually make a decision. Booking the bigger stuff is the easy part, though it often gives the false idea that you’re “pretty much done” and you just have the little things to take care of, which actually happen to be the hardest.

In the months leading up to the wedding, the excitement begins to wear down and most brides just want to “get it over with” and move on to the next big thing in their lives. That’s a natural feeling, but we can’t help but think it is a little sad for such a joyous occasion to bring negative feelings to these happy couples.

The truth is that everyone has lives outside of wedding planning and while this would be a wonderful world if we could simply be surrounded by cake, flowers, and tulle (the non-itchy kind!) 24/7, that is sadly not the case. When it comes down to real life, we simply need to learn to how to balance everything on our plate, regardless of how much we would like to just forget about some of those responsibilities or focus more on some of the fun priorities. We need to remember that we should enjoy the planning of this day because it will be over and done with forever in only a few hours, while the rest of our lives will be waiting for us when the wedding passes.

In hopes of helping you keep the “nearing-the-date” planning times enjoyable, here are our top three tips to staying calm, cool, and collected.

1. Focus on the End Goal

Determine what you want out of your wedding day (besides, you know, marrying your spouse) and focus on it. There will be things you can’t get to or that are out of your control and when it comes to those, there is no use in stressing yourself out. In short, don’t sweat what you can’t fix because at the end of the day most brides can honestly say “it was perfect!” The truth is that you will remember the positive feelings and forget about the small stuff.

Jay Dixon Photography

2. Take care of yourself!

Eat right, exercise, and have some fun. It is as simple as that! The last thing you want is to be fighting some illness on the day of your wedding, or even worse, on that wonderful honeymoon you have planned. Beyond thinking about looking good on your wedding day, take care of yourself for the life that is waiting for you after the wedding. After all, what makes you look your best on the day is the huge smile you sport as you walk down the aisle and the happiness that you, the couple, radiate throughout the night.

Theresa Bridget Photography

3. Live Your Life

The rest of your life will still be there when the wedding is over and you will have to deal with any repercussions of things you ignored for months. Continue your relationships as always; go to girls’ nights, your weekly movie date with your beau, family Sunday dinners, and work happy hours. The people in your life are excited about your wedding, but this doesn't mean it’ll be their priority for months before it.

I can guarantee you that your guests won’t miss that the card box does not have that perfect bow you envisioned and no one will notice if your bridesmaids’ dresses are slightly off in color. After all, outside of the marriage ritual, the wedding is really just one big, awesome party and anyone can have fun at a party as long as the hosts are gracious.

Get The Gown is a bridal gown rental company. We specialize in only high end designer dresses, such as Vera Wang, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Monique Lhuillier, among others. The process is as easy as pick it, rent it, flaunt it, and return it.